Title

Author

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

Abstract

"Gratitude is a virtue capable of conferring a constellation of benefits. Research on gratitude has mostly focused on these benefits, but in understanding the construct fully an examination of moderating factors and inhibitors is important. A recent study, utilizing a prospective design, revealed cynicism and narcissism as significant inhibitors of trait and state gratitude over time (Solom, Watkins, McCurrach, & Scheibe, 2016). The current study hoped to build upon those results by examining whether these two possible inhibitors affect grateful processing after a gratitude induction. I hypothesized that higher levels of cynicism and narcissism would moderate the experience of grateful emotion following a gratitude induction. Contrary to predictions, the putative inhibitors did not significantly moderate the experience of gratitude, save narcissism, which actually facilitated increases. In short, it seems likely that narcissism and cynicism inhibit gratitude over time through a combination of effects leading to reduced frequency and density of grateful experiences, rather than decreasing the intensity of these events when they do happen"--Leaf iv.